an invitation to lunch
HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?
when I only have 16 cents and 2
packages of yoghurt
there's a lesson in that, isn't there
like in Chinese poetry when a leaf falls?
hold off on the yoghurt to the very
last, when everything may improve
Frank O'Hara

Wednesday, November 06, 2002

Well, this time, at least, the people spoke.

What they said was that they are afraid. Afraid of freedom, afraid of the world outside our borders, afraid of their bosses' threats to take away their jobs, afraid to stand up for themselves, and, perhaps most of all, afraid of each other.

I don't think you can blame the Democratic "leadership." Or the media. Or, even, the lies the Republicans tell.

People want to believe those lies. Because those lies say you don't have to do anything and it will still be okay. You don't have to understand the world, care about your neighbor or take on the hard job of challenging the boss -- you just have to do the easy job of beating up on the vulnerable.

Personally, if we can't be a courageous, liberal country that values freedom, and is willing to fight for it, in which people accept moral responsibility for themselves and each other in the cause of creating a decent community, I wish we would, at least, become an honestly conservative country in which we are left alone to care for ourselves without the intrusions of government, and free of the bullying of tax payer supported corporate power.

I'd be more than happy to pay no taxes at all, if they'd let me. But, of course, that's never going to happen. Instead, as a small business person, I'm being taxed through the ying yang to support companies like Halliburton and help make people like Cheney and Rumsfeld and W rich. Why? Because a majority of Americans think their jobs depend on making sure the corporate powers that be get everything they ask for.

Middle class people in this country no longer pay taxes -- they pay tribute to their masters.

Who then skip off to some tax-haven to enjoy their plunder without having to pay taxes of their own.

People like Thune and Talent and Coleman and Chambliss, these aren't representatives of the people; they're hand-picked corporate lobbyists. You and I get to pay their salaries -- at least until they prove their mettle for their masters enough to make the really big bucks on the direct payroll.

But don't blame the politicians, because while they may not, with our permission, represent our true, long term interests, they ARE representatives of who we are: People who lie routinely, especially to ourselves, fluff up our resumes, and are perfectly willing to sell our souls, the family farm, the means of production, and our childrens' futures for a little bit of ready cash in the here and now, and a few more drops of oil for the SUV.

The only things most of your fellow Americans want in addition to that is a promise to keep the protestors out of range of the tv cameras, the homeless swept off the streets, and the misfits locked away forever.

They want to see no evil, hear no evil, and tell themselves that the lies we comfort ourselves with have no evil consequences.